Blacks and the new TV season; fall lineup features Black talent on both sides of the camera - includes related article on Keenen Ivory Wayans

Ebony, Oct, 1990 by Douglas C. Lyons

BLACKS AND THE NEW TV SEASON

Can a kid from a tough Philadelphia neighborhood adjust to California's good life and win ratings for NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel Air? Will James Earl Jones find huge audiences as a private investigator on ABC's Gabriel's Fire? Will NBC's The Cosby Show continue to dominate the ratings?

The new TV season is upon us. Five new shows - two on ABC, one on CBS, one on NBC and one on Fox Broadcasting - feature Blacks in prominent roles. There is also a sharp increase in the number of independently produced programs featuring Blacks.

Black talent is also growing behind the camera. Thomas Carter (Equal Justice), Bill Cosby (The Cosby Show and Grand), Arsenio Hall (The Arsenio Hall Show and The Party Machine With Nia Peeples), Keenen Ivory Wayans (In Living Color), Quincy Jones (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Jesse Jackson Show) and Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show and several prime-time specials for ABC) hold the top TV post of executive producers for their shows.

All in all, the new TV lineup offers plenty of entertainment.

NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is one of five new shows to prominently showcase the talents of Black stars. The show, which airs on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. (EST), features rap artist Wil Smith as a kid from a tough Philadelphia neighborhood who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in Los Angeles' posh Bel Air community.

ABC's offers Gabriel's Fire, an hour-long drama set for Thursdays at 9 p.m. (EST) and starring James Earl Jones as a private investigator. Married People, a sitcom airing on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. (EST), is another new show, starring Ray Aranha and Barbara Montgomery as an elderly couple who rent their New York brownstone to two younger couples.

Ossie Davis returns to TV on CBS' new show, Evening Shade, a comedy about life in small-town America. The show airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. (EST). Fox Broadcasting unveils the fifth new show, True Colors, a comedy about an interracial couple. It stars Frankie Faison, Claude Brooks and Adam Jeffries and airs on Sundays at 7 p.m. (EST).

The new syndicated programs include The `Jesse Jackson Show, a talk show hosted by the civil rights leader, and Big Break, a musical talent contest with singer Natalie Cole.

Other new "must-see" shows include the return of Sidney Poitier to television as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the ABC mini-series, Separate But Equal, and in The boys, a pilot series created by Debbie Allen as a mid-season replacement.

Blacks are also cast in ABC's Cop Rock, NBC's Law and Order and Hull High, and CBS' WIOU.

Of all the returning shows, NBC's The Cosby Show, on Thursdays at 8 p.m. (EST), will be under greater scrutiny this season as it faces Fox's most popular show, The Simpsons. To meet the challenge, The Cosby Show introduces Erika Alexander in the role of Pam, a relative from a poor community in Brooklyn who moves in and adjusts to the affluence of the Huxtable household.

The resurgence of African-American pride on Black college campuses will be seen on A Different World, which airs on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. (EST) and stars Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Sinbad and Dawnn Lewis.

Whoopi Goldberg returns to CBS' Bagdad Cafe, at 8:30 p.m. (EST) on Fridays, and Howard Rollins co-stars in NBC's In the Heat of the Night, at 9 p.m. (EST) on Tuesdays.

Other returning prime-time shows featuring Black talent include ABC's Family Matters, at 8:30 p.m. (EST) on Fridays and Doogie Howser, M.D., at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays; CBS' Designing Women, at 9:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays; Fox's In Living Color, at 8 p.m. (EST) on Sundays; NBC's L.A. Law at 10 p.m. (EST) on Thursdays; Matlock, at 8 p.m. (EST) on Tuesdays and Night Court, at 9 p.m. (EST) on Fridays.

PBS starts its new season with an October 5 debut of Great Performances' Spike & Co.: Do It A Cappella, a musical featuring world class a cappella artists hosted by filmmaker Spike Lee and Debbie Allen.

On cable, HBO airs The Josephine Baker Story, starring Lynn Whitfield; Criminal Justice, starring Forest Whitaker, and new episodes of First & Ten, starring O.J. Simpson.

Blacks are also featured in other syndicated programs that rival network offerings. For example, The Ebony/Jet Showcase enters its sixth season this fall. Co-hosts Deborah Crable and Darryl Dennard provide interesting and informative interviews with some of today's most prominent celebrities, including Babyface, Bill Cosby and Natalie Cole.

Other syndicated shows featuring Blacks include The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, Red Hot & Cool, starring Nancy Wilson, Super Force, with Larry B. Scott and Star Trek: The Next Generation, featuring LeVar Burton and Michael Dorn.

PHOTO : The Cosby Show begins its new season with the introduction of Erika Alexander (inset), who joins the Huxtable clan as a cousin from a tough section of Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant area. At right, James Earl Jones (r.) returns to TV as an investigator in ABC's Gabriel's Fire. Jones, who plays the title role, co-stars with Laila Robins.